Chapter 2 A Perilous Test

• Stefan Romano went still at the name, and something dark stirred deep inside him. For a moment, he said nothing. His hand curled loosely around the glass in front of him, though he had not yet taken a drink. The truth was, he did not know the answer to the question. Once, finding Richard Morgan and making him pay had been the fire that consumed him. The man had nearly destroyed him, had destroyed his father, and left scars on Stefan's soul that had never fully healed.
• Ten years ago, just when Stefan was about to strike, Richard Morgan vanished as though the earth had swallowed him whole. At that time Stefan had faced a choice. He could dedicate his life to hunting the man until one of them fell, or he could let go and move forward. Against every instinct of his younger self, he had chosen to move on. He had built a fortune, claimed success, and fashioned a life most men would envy. And he had told himself he never regretted the choice.
• But now, at the mention of Richard Morgan, the old hunger returned. Memories long buried pressed at him, and for the first time in years, Stefan wondered if he had truly left them behind.
• "What do you think?" he asked quietly, his voice carefully even, his gaze fixed not on Julian but on the shadows above.
• Julian Rossi shrugged. "I think you are very interested." He let the words linger, watching for the smallest reaction. When Stefan raised an eyebrow, silent and expectant, Julian leaned back in his chair. "I might have a lead on him."
• Stefan exhaled slowly and reclined in his seat, his eyes tracing the ceiling as if answers might appear there. He had believed revenge no longer mattered. He had wealth, success, power. Anything he wanted, he could take. Yet all of it paled in this moment. At the thought of his enemy slipping within reach, everything else seemed insignificant. His lips curved in a slow smile. For the first time in years, he felt alive.
• "I think I will have that drink after all. Scotch."
• Julian signaled, and they sat in silence until the waitress brought the amber liquid. Stefan lifted the glass and took a long swallow, savoring the heat that spread through him. At last, he set it down with deliberate calm. "Tell me, Julian. What do you know about Richard Morgan?"
• Julian nodded, as if he had been waiting for this moment. "You know Richard was married?"
• Stefan inclined his head. He remembered.
• "Well, his wife lived in town with him now and then. It depended on whether Richard had someone else on the side at the time. I drove her around sometimes when I was working for him. She was different from the others, classy, did not fit with the people in the old neighborhood. We became friends of a sort. They had a daughter too. She must be about twenty now."
• "Twenty two," Stefan corrected without hesitation.
• Julian's brows lifted. "Whatever. Anyway, she was a right little madam back then, but Richard adored her. She was his little princess, and leaving her must have broken his heart."
• "Get to the point," Stefan said, his tone edged with impatience.
• Julian leaned closer. "Richard's daughter called me last week. She said she wanted a job dancing here at the club." He paused, watching closely, but Stefan kept his face expressionless.
• "She is coming here tonight for an interview."
• The words struck hard. Stefan's gaze sharpened. "Why did you not tell me earlier?"
• Julian frowned. "Because I was not sure I should tell you even now. This is not your world anymore, Stefan. That life is behind you, and you should leave it there. But I owe you, and I thought you would want to know."
• Silence fell between them. Stefan lifted a hand to the faint scar that ran down his right cheek, a scar Richard Morgan had left behind in more ways than one. Hearing that name raised demons he had thought long buried. Yet now Richard's daughter was walking back into the shadows, reaching out to his father's old associates.
• What could she possibly want after all these years?
• "Do you believe she is genuine?" Stefan asked at last. "That she only wants a job?"
• Julian gave a short laugh. "Hell no. I doubt very much she wants to dance here. If she is anything like her father, there is not an honest bone in her body. Richard Morgan was the most treacherous crook in London. You know that better than anyone. And if she takes after her mother, she would not be caught dead in a place like this." He waved a hand around the club, dismissing the smoke, the shadows, the stage where the music still pounded. "Her mother used to call me now and then, asking if I had news of Richard. But the calls stopped about a year ago. Nothing since. Then out of the blue, this daughter phones me and says she wants to move to the city. Claims her mother suggested she look me up."
• Julian's grin was sharp and knowing. "Like Penelope Morgan would ever tell her daughter to take up stripping. Not a chance. So I ask again, Stefan. How do you want to play this?"
• Stefan was silent for a moment, his thoughts dark and quick. Richard's daughter stepping into this world could not be coincidence. She had to want something more than a job. The question was what.
• "She says she needs a job?"
• Julian nodded.
• Stefan's lips curved again, slow and deliberate. "Then perhaps you should convince her that she does not want to work here after all."
• The decision hung in the air like smoke. Stefan leaned back in his chair, sipping his drink. The old hunger burned again, and though he told himself he had left revenge behind, he knew in that moment that fate had other plans. Richard Morgan's daughter was stepping into his world, and Stefan Romano would be waiting.
• Somewhere outside, unaware of the storm gathering around her, Aria Morgan was taking her first steps toward the black doors of The Crazy Frog. She thought she was only chasing answers about her father. She had no idea she was walking straight in
• to the arms of the man whose destiny was bound to hers.